Embodiments of the present invention relate to aerial navigation. More particularly, embodiments of the invention involve a system and method of assisted aerial navigation that enhances a pilot's situational awareness by presenting a virtual target flight path to the pilot during final landing approaches using data received from a local positioning system.
Landing an aircraft can be the most challenging stage of a flight, particularly in reduced visibility conditions, such as at night or in inclement weather. Thus, automated guidance systems such as the instrument landing system (ILS) have been developed to assist pilots when landing aircraft. The ILS is a ground-based system that provides guidance signals to an ILS receiver onboard aircraft that are approaching a runway, wherein onboard instrumentation indicates to pilots when they have deviated from a desired final approach path to the runway.
Unfortunately, the ILS suffers from various limitations. For example, the ILS provides a pair of indicators indicating to the pilot a degree to which the aircraft has deviated laterally and vertically from the desired final approach path. Because the ILS provides only an indication of a degree of deviation in each direction, the pilot is left to estimate how much correction is needed to align the aircraft with the desired final approach path. In such circumstances the pilot may overshoot or undershoot the desired final approach path in an effort to correct the deviations indicated by the ILS. Furthermore, the pilot must shift his or her focus between a first ILS indicator, a second ILS indicator, the runway, and possible other instrumentation present on the flight deck.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved system of assisted aerial navigation that does not suffer from the limitations of the prior art.